Ashraf Abo Arafe
At the end of the expanded session of the eighth session of the Council of the partnership between Egypt and the European Union, Foreign Minister Sameh Choukri held a political dialogue on December 20 with Vice President of the European Commission and EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Federica Mugirini .
The spokesperson of ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Hafez, said that Minister Shukri started the meeting, praising the efforts made during the last period to activate the institutional framework of the relationship between Egypt and the European Union until the eighth session of the Association Council.
Hafez said that the discussions on regional and international issues have dominated much of the political dialogue in the framework of the two sides’ keenness to continue consultations and coordination on issues of common concern and in line with the priorities of Egypt-EU partnership for the period 2017-2020 adopted at the seventh session of the Council in Brussels in July 2017.
During the meeting, Minister Shukri stressed the need to reach a just and comprehensive peace for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as a prerequisite for achieving lasting peace and stability in the Middle East region by committing to the two-state solution to ensure the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders and its capital East Jerusalem.
During the Libyan crisis, Minister Shukri stressed the importance of pushing forward the political process to resolve the crisis there, which must be made by the Libyans themselves and away from external pressures, in order to achieve political and security stability in Libya, face terrorism and restore Building Libyan State Institutions.
Talks also touched upon the developments in the conflict in Syria, Shukri discussed the importance of building on the international consensus points to establish a political solution in the country, in order to preserve the unity of the Syrian state and its institutions.
The agreements and understandings reached recently between the Yemeni parties in the consultations of Sweden were welcomed as an important step in the achievement of a comprehensive political solution, while expressing the hope that the Yemeni parties would abide by the implementation of the agreements reached.
For its part, Mugirini praised the Egyptian role in achieving Palestinian reconciliation and calm in Gaza Strip, stressing the European position supporting the two-state solution. The European official also valued Egyptian efforts to resolve the Libyan crisis and unify the military establishment.
Hafiz said that Shukri and Mugirini also discussed the situation on the African continent, especially in the light of Egypt’s assumption of the presidency of the African Union in February. Shukri stressed Egypt’s aspiration to cooperate with international partners including the EU to achieve the objectives of the 2063 Development Agenda of the African Union, Highlighting Egypt’s priorities during its presidency of the African Union for regional integration, economic, social development, peace and security.
The officials also discussed ways to face the international challenges that are of interest to the Egyptian and European sides, especially the issues of combating terrorism and illegal immigration. Shoukry stressed the need for a comprehensive and balanced approach that addresses the economic and social roots of illegal immigration and strengthen cooperation between the two sides to combat terrorism and extremism from an integrated perspective.